Kitchen ideas - what are your "must haves"?

[Deelove]

We are at the early stages of planning a new kitchen. What are your "must have" items that we should consider? Hoping to learn from your experiences! I'm quite short so looking for ideas to ease my pain!

My Quooker and no wall units, just one long shelf with gorgeous ingredients and interesting bits - it makes me happy just to look at it.

Insinkerators can encourage rats apparently

Yy to Quooker. Also induction hob.

Plan space for everything inc Hoover (if it lives there), ironing board, etc.

I don't like the pullout larders. We've got a "cupboard" larder with shelves up high, then drawers for tins, baskets for veg and deep drawers for cereal boxes/baking supplies etc.

Two single ovens at eye height - one with steam .
Pan drawers
Big wide fold up cupboard doors instead of normal size doors for wall units .
Non integrated fridge /freezer
Integrated dishwasher
Swan neck tap with levers so can be used with greasy /dirty hands
Wood floor ( warm)
5 ring gas hob with large burner to the side not in the middle - makes a huge surprising difference to capacity . Hate induction .
No extractor fan or built in microwave
Two deep sinks -,waste disposal in one , water softener in the other .
Larder for all food so it's in one place
Smaller larder for all plates /serving dishes etc plus appliances .

If there's space - an Aga or Lacanche or Essie range with separate oven and hob for capacity .

Can I also add: if funds allow, I have in my kitchen 2 induction hobs, 2 ovens and 2 fridges. It takes a load of stress out of big cooking events like family parties/ Xmas etc.

YY to planning your bins ( mine are in a designated cupboard) I would also say yy to 2 dishwashers (my biggest regret ) I have mirror splash back - cheap and very easy to clean, plus I can see what's going on behind me

Good layout with proper working zones. Crockery/sink/dishwasher close together, etc.
Proper preparation space between sink and cooker at least 1.2m wide.
Pull outs in base units
A larder - now we have one I'd not go back to food scattered around multiple small cupboards.
Well planned corners
Pull out bins/recycling

If you're short I would check very carefuly the height of tall oven units - a lot of pp end up with a microwave or grill that's at top of head level and therefore unusable, especially if it has a fold down rather than side opening door. You can get these units adjusted so the oven stack sits a bit lower down, my mum did this.

Also we had to figure out how I would reach to open the window behind the sink - it's a sash window and one of those hook poles was the solution.

How do insinkinerstors encourage rats?

You're putting mashed up food waste into the drains. I've always thought they are a pretty disgusting idea and not very eco friendly.

Oh so not rats in the house just in the sewers?

We got one as we suffered loads from maggots in our wheelie bin they are stored right outside the front door as that's the only places to put them in our street so they were crawling on the front steps. It's been amazing. I totally recommend them to anyone. What's eco friendly got to do with it??

Two dishwashers if you have space.
Extra sink on island.
Drawers to keep your crockery in and one for baking ingredients. As many as you can fit.
I love my quooker and huge range cooker with cupboards either side for spices etc.
DH loves his integrated coffee machine.

Induction hob! Definitely.
Dishwasher
Good plan layout (triangle)
Pull out pantry
More drawers than cupboards
Shelves that either go all the way up to the ceiling, or boards that are set between the top of the cupboard and ceiling, so you don't get greasy dust up there.

myturn - rats are clever animals. Once they realise food is coming down the waste water pipe, they will probably climb inside it because food debris will build up in the pipe. The only material rates cannot knaw through is stainless steel btw.

'What's eco friendly got to do with it??' You are putting rubbish into the drains which means extra resources being spent on cleaning and recycling the water to make it safe to use again.

If you cover food and food waste so no flies can come into contact with it, you shouldn't have a problem with maggots. Maggots can be killed with boiling water or salt. You can use insecticides in the bin to kill any flies that get in there to stop them from laying eggs in the first place.

What is a quooker?

A Quooker is a boiling water tap. Turn on the tap and instant boiling water, no need to boil a kettle or stick a pan on a hob:

www.quooker.co.uk/enuk

Other manufacturers make similar.

Reading all these comments I'm starting to want one again. Sigh.

This may be a stupid question ... but where do you store glasses and mugs if you haven't got any wall units? Does it seem odd getting them from a base drawer/cupboard?

We have all our mugs in a wide drawer and glasses are in a dresser type bit of the kitchen with glass doors.

Two sinks, although I might find this useful just because I don't have a dishwasher or utility room! I couldn't be without my double sink though. As others have said, deep pan drawers, huge worktop, double oven, separate fridge and freezer - not encased in wood or whatever so I can stick my magentic calendar on there.

Thanks Shortlass I have heard of the concept, I just didn't know the name. Thought I might be missing something in the world of cookers!

The the things I love most in my kitchen are the pan drawers, the pyrolitic oven and the deep drawer under the oven which goes down below the skirting board. But the dishwasher is the best thing of all.